The second half of my stay stay started fairly quietly, with the 6th producing a Velvet N, 17 Crossbill S, 21 Whoopers and a Marsh Harrier.
The conditions for the 8th looked the best of my stay. Fog, maybe rain and SE winds all pointed to an arrival. From first thing an arrival of sorts was apparent with thrushes, mainly Blackbirds passing over unseen in the fog at Seaton Point. More Woodcock were new in, I had 3 throughout the day, but Mark had 5 on the Steel alone and I joined him for a while waiting for things to come in. There were quite a few ducks moving N, but lots were probably missed in the fog. Although more thrushes were arriving throughout the morning, there seemed be a lack of anything else until I a found a 1w male Black Redstart on the undercliff halfway between the Steel and Boulmer.
It showed well, but I wanted to press on back to Seaton Point to see if anything else had arrived. A pale redpoll, probably Mealy dropped in briefly along the coast but soon carried on inland. The first few bushes at Seaton Point revealed nothing new from the morning, but at the south end of the mound I found a distinctly pale Chiffchaff, which after initially a bit of a run around showed well and proved to be a rather smart Siberian, albeit silent. Only my 2nd ever, and first at Boulmer, it was a really nice bird, very pale underparts, all black bill and legs, rather pale diffuse super and green-grey upper parts. It remained silent but showed down to a few feet in the fog, often feeding on the ground - a real treat.
A Lap Bunt flew over, probably in-off as I was watching the Chiffchaff, and whilst walking around the point trying to find a Dusky Warbler (there'd been an arrival of 6 at Spurn alone) I flushed a silent Jack Snipe from the path, a patch tick (number 187). Otherwise there didn't seem to be too much in other than Blackbirds, so I went back for seconds of the Chiffchaff, where I was joined late on by Mark.
The 9th again looked like there might be some arrivals, and in fact, starting out at the Steel there were more thrushes, again mostly Blackbirds coming in off, some dropping in. The rain early on in the morning gave the most pronounced movement, but it was clear birds were coming in all day, my ability to see and hear them dependant on the density of fog at the time. Ducks were also moving in good numbers, with counts of 340 Wigeon, 83 Eider, 9 Shoveler, 50 Teal, 6 DB Brents all N, plus a BT Diver that way too. I also picked up 3 Slavonian Grebes fairly close offshore sat on the sea, and eventually joined by a group of up to 8 Goldeneye, were only my 2nd patch record. Pom Skuas, 2N 1S were my first for a while, one juv showing quite well chasing Herring Gulls.
I headed down to Seaton Point to look for the anything new in there and the Chiffchaff again. There was no sign of the latter so I began a more concerted check of the caravan site than the day before, as there were very few people around. Blackbirds were everywhere still, as were Song Thrush, but there were seemingly no new in crests or warblers.
At about 1pm, I was walking up the central track on the south side of the caravan side when a small bird flew into a hawthorn briefly, before zipping across behind a caravan. For the split second I got on it, it looked like a small Phyllosc, and did I hear a tack or was I imaging it? I scrambled up the hill to see if I could locate the bird, and waited for 5 minutes. There was no sign, so I put it behind me, probably a Wren, and continued up the path. 30 seconds later, another couple of tacks? I turned and listened intently, only Wrens could be seen and heard, was I going mad? I continued along to the eastern end of Seaton Point, before routing back west along the beach. I then had the choice of whether to continue along the sand or go back along the already beaten path and look again for the possible Dusky...
Nearing where I thought I heard tacks last, a small dark bird flushed across the path in a small hawthorn - on raising my bins I was met with a dark bird flicking around to reveal a striking super...Dusky Warbler! It flicked along into some bracken where it began 'tutting' away, so I decided to grab my recorder out of my pocket in order to have something to go back to. It wasn't still for long and I had to run across the bracken/hawthorn covered mounds to keep up with it. After being sure I'd recorded some calls, I put the news out, locally first to gauge opinion on whether it would be appropriate given the current situation to put it out wider. After being reassured, I stuck it on the the Northumberland group with a pin, by which time I had completely lost the bird.
I knew Mark was on his way, so set back about trying to find it again. Luckily I did so when it flushed from the side of the path seconds before Mark arrived, after some waiting the bird again flitted from bracken sea to hawthorn, mostly just giving flight views and calls. John joined myself and Mark later in the evening and also managed a short view, but it really was a tricky bird to pin down, the only pic I managed being an awful flight shot. I've joint found one before at Spurn, but it was nice to find one on my patch and add to the Boulmer area list again - now 248 we believe!
Still present the next morning, I finally managed to get a shot when it flew into the bottom of a hawthorn for a couple of seconds after I had followed it for around 30 mins through the bracken. Stewart Sexton said he was going to come down for it during his lunch break, so I headed off to check other areas with the intention of helping him look later. A couple of Lapland Bunting seemed fairly settled around the field near the mound, flushing out a few times but always returning. Thrushes had definitely thinned out though, so I went back a bit earlier than expected to look for the Dusky with some other birders. When Stewart arrived we again found it fairly quickly, but for the most part it only showed in flight, once however flicking around nicely for probably 5 seconds in a hawthorn, allowing me to get some better shots and Stewart to get a view good enough to produce the amazing sketch/painting seen below.
The day also brought a couple of Velvets N and 2 Bonxie south, plus a rather cheeky patch tick Hooded Crow which I picked up in flight over Howick from the clifftops south of the burn, before it landed on the TV aerial of Seahouses Farm. The bird has been around since the Summer, so I was glad to catch up with it, albeit it extreme distance.
There ended my early November stay, 11 patch ticks which was way more than I thought, plus several nice finds. 189 in just under 7 months for me at Boulmer is it seems a new year record for anyone on any patch in the county - I'm fairly pleased with that! (Thanks to Stewart for doing some digging)
The target now has to be 195, I think 200 will be too much of a stretch, but who knows! I still have a few 'easy' things: LT Duck, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, and then when you tally in white-winged Gulls, a couple more geese/swans, scarcities or rarities and maybe a cold snap, you never know I guess. Will be nice to get past 190, I never thought that would be on the cards back in September when I was eeking out birds trying to reach 160.
